Nunez bond strategy a more modest proposal

Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez today released his proposal for beefing up spending on the state’s infrastructure — a $30 billion bond plan that runs over two election cycles, far more modest than the $68 billion that the governor wants voters to approve over the next several years.

As expected, the plan fashioned by Assembly Democrats adds money to public transit, affordable housing and seismic upgrades to nonprofit hospitals serving large numbers of uninsured patients. Nunez praised Schwarzenegger for thinking big when it comes to infrastructure spending but said the debt load on his plan would place too big of a hit on future budgets.

As for timing, Nunez signaled that with the fast-approaching March 10 deadline for putting measures on the June 2006 ballot about all that can reasonably be worked out is an agreement on an education bond. The Assembly Democrats’ plan calls for $10 billion in school construction money for K-12 and higher education systems.